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PAXICHEN t1_j1r8wbl wrote

Reply to comment by VaMoInNj in It's a day late but Happy "Washington Crossing the Delaware Day" to all who celebrated by rollotomasi07071

I grew up south of the crossing…in Trenton. So when I look at this painting I’m picturing myself looking from Trenton toward Washington’s Crossing and it appears to me he’s having the Marbleheaders row him back to PA.

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IronSeagull t1_j1v9dw9 wrote

I think there's two reasons for this. 1. We're conditioned to view left to right movement as advancing, as is typical in movies and stuff. Not sure if movies are the cause of that conditioning or an effect. 2. Maps have north on top, east on the right, west on the left, so we default to interpret it as if the viewer is facing north and Washington is moving west to Pennsylvania.

The painter lived for a time in Philadelphia so I doubt he was confused about the geography. I guess the left-right movement conditioning wasn't a thing in the 1850s, or he would have painted them facing the other way. Or maybe he wanted to depict the return trip since they crossed at night, but that'd be a weird thing to paint.

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PAXICHEN t1_j1vmmc4 wrote

But they marched to Princeton after defeating the Germans (Hessians) in Trenton.

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